(Beirut) – An Iraqi army division trained by the United States government allegedly executed several dozen prisoners in Mosul’s Old City, Human Rights Watch said today. Two international observers detailed the summary killings of four people by the Iraqi army’s 16th Division in mid-July 2017, and saw evidence that the unit had executed many more people, including a boy.

The US government should suspend all assistance and support to the 16th Division pending Iraq’s full investigation of the allegations and appropriate prosecutions, Human Rights Watch said. Under the “Leahy Law,” the US is prohibited from providing military assistance to any unit of foreign security forces if there is credible evidence that the unit has committed gross violations of human rights and no “effective measures” are being taken to bring those responsible to justice.

“The US government should make sure it is no longer providing assistance to the Iraqi unit responsible for this spate of executions but also suspend any plans for future assistance until these atrocities have been properly investigated,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Given the widespread abuses by Iraqi forces and the government’s abysmal record on accountability, the US should take a hard look at its involvement with Iraqi forces.”​Two international observers independently told Human Rights Watch that on a day in mid-July at about 10 a.m. in Mosul’s Old City, they saw a group of Iraqi soldiers who identified themselves as members of the 16th Division lead four naked men down an alleyway, after which they heard multiple gunshots. The observers said other soldiers standing in the street told them that the four men were Islamic State (also known as ISIS) fighters.

Civilians in west Mosul have been ruthlessly exploited by the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS), which has systematically moved them into zones of conflict, used them as human shields, and prevented them from escaping to safety. They have also been subjected to relentless unlawful attacks by Iraqi government forces and members of the US-led coalition (hereon referred to as pro-government forces). In March and May 2017, Amnesty International researchers visited northern Iraq to document violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses by all sides of the conflict in west Mosul. The findings were published today in a new report:

Nowhere To Go: Children in Iraq trapped in cycles of violence and poverty as conflict reaches unprecedented levels

Three years since the intensification of violence in Iraq, children are trapped in an endless cycle of violence and increasing poverty, according to a UNICEF assessment, Nowhere to Go.

“Across Iraq, children continue to witness sheer horror and unimaginable violence,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Iraq. “They have been killed, injured, abducted and forced to shoot and kill in one of the most brutal wars in recent history.”

In west Mosul, children are being deliberately targeted and killed to punish families and deter them from fleeing the violence. In less than two months, at least 23 children have been killed and 123 have been injured in that part of the city alone.

Iraq: Dozens Found Handcuffed, Executed in, around Mosul - Evidence Points to Killings by Government Forces

(Beirut) – At least 26 bodies of blindfolded and handcuffed men have been found in government held areas in and around Mosul since the operation to retake the city began in October 2016, Human Rights Watch said today.

​There is growing concern that 9 days after the Iraqi elections no results have been posted, with government sources claiming that no announcement will be made until the end of May.

​Political leaders in Iraq who have already expressed dismay at widespread vote rigging during the elections, now fear that further backstage manipulation of the results is taking place in an attempt to secure a third term for the deeply unpopular and autocratic Nouri al-Maliki.

Through factual analysis and the integration of the vision and priorities of Iraqi youth, this report develops an integrated structure that combines youth issues with various dimensions of the development process. This will help to develop policies that address the role of the youth in the current and future human development process.

And what makes the recommendations of this report even more important is that many of them reflect a reality that our youth teams and field work groups have explored through interviewing young Iraqis of different genders, ethnicities, education levels, and social and geographical backgrounds.

Genocide in Iraq: The Case Against the UN Security Council and Member States

Iraq under punitive sanctions takes us back to period in which the seeds for Iraq's destruction were sewn. Iraqi society, during those thirteen years for which sanctions spanned, was transformed in it entirety; stripped off the luxuries and necessities Iraqis enjoyed in preceding decades.

"Genocide in Iraq: The case Against the UN Security Council and Member States" co-authored by Abdul Haq al-Anani and Tarik al-Ani presents an in-depth analysis of years between 1990 and 2003, placing UN-backed sanctions in Iraq within a broader historical perspective, underscoring the events significance to not only Iraqis but the world at large, now, as much as then.

The second volume of 'Genocide in Iraq' takes off where the first ended, 2003; a year marked by the notorious US-led invasion of the country, not forgetting America's allies known formerly as 'coalition of the willing'.

The pretext or rhetorical justification; 'combating the scourge of terrorism and Saddam's nuclear capabilities', remains responsible for painting an imagine of Iraqi society aligned to the century old binary of 'heroes' and 'villains'.

Attention is therefore purposefully situated upon the strategies deployed by America and friends, their fraudulent pretexts, the manipulation of Iraq's cultural fabric, and a whole array of neo-liberal crimes. The depth and breadth of the destruction is the point which the authors unfailing return back to, fleshing out the illegal, Machiavellian, and ugly nature of these crimes.